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November 15, 2011

A question of willpower

This morning I found it harder than usual to get out of bed. A lateish bedtime last night and a for-no-reason 4am wake-up left me groggy and tired.

When the alarm went off at 5am, the temptation to skip my running session and use the extra time for a nap was strong. Very strong.

But I finally managed to drag myself out of bed because I had made a deal with myself - that even on those days when I skip runs (say, due to heavy rain), I will still put on my running clobber and spend half-an-hour on the elliptical machine instead.

Once I was up, the prospect of a run began to sound better. It had been five days since my last proper run - my weekend long run with my sister was more like a long walk - and my legs wanted some exercise.

By the time I left the house, I was running late, too late for my usual 35-minute route, but I decided to go anyway and take a shortcut to reduce the distance and therefore the time. Better a short run than no run at all.

I'm so glad I went, it was one of my best sessions so far.

After a 3-minute walk, I jogged for 15 minutes without stopping, and it was a decent jog, not the same-speed-as-walking jog.

Oh yeah baby.

I couldn't find my mp3 player as I left the house, so I plugged my earbuds into my phone instead.

The media player was set to 'repeat this track' and I couldn't figure out how to undo this, so I listened to Coldplay's Viva la Vida several times in a row.